Would you leave on vacation without checking over the car to make sure it is road worthy? Would you leave without packing your suitcase? Would you leave without a road map? The more adventurous of us might, but I do not recommend it. The best thing you can do for your research trip is your homework. As Yogi cautions, know where you are going!

What do you need to do before you pack your bags?
1. Decide if this trip is purely genealogical in nature or are you combining research with another activity. Your preparation and expectations will be different if you are the only one going on a research trip or if you are planning an afternoon in the courthouse or library during a family vacation or business trip. If you are going with family, especially children, be prepared to have someone entertain them while you are researching. I pack differently if it is an overnighter, a long weekend or an extended trip—both suitcase and research kit.
2. Know where you are going geographically.
a. Six months to a year before your trip, order, through interlibrary loan, books on your destination. Check out the US Library of Congress Card Catalog (http://lcweb.loc.gov/catalog/), OCLC or WorldCat to determine what books have been published about the county or area you are planning to visit. Study the local history and geography. Develop a sense of the place before you ever get there. If I can find them, I read the county histories, such as those published by Goodspeed, Chapman and others done in the 1880’s.
b. Check current and historical atlases of the area and photocopy the maps. Study migration trails into and out of your destination.
c. Order General County Highway maps from the appropriate state department of transportation. These show rural cemeteries and churches, and section lines.
d. Book your lodgings well in advance, especially if you are going during the local festival. You do not want to waste research time searching for housing.
e. If you want to visit family, make sure they would welcome you. They may have other family or work obligations that would preclude their having time for you or may be gone at the time of your trip. Do not just “drop in” unexpectedly.

3. Know what you want to find. Set goals. If you have one or multiple destinations, decide which families might have left records in those areas. I use this opportunity to get a few files cleaned up and organized. How do you know what you need until you know what you already have?
a. Make an alphabetical list of all the individuals you are researching this trip. Add enough genealogical data to separate one John Jones from another man of the same name.
b. Update your family group sheets and pedigree charts. Take extra blank forms along for those new lines that may open up. Traveling with your laptop computer is helpful as you have all your data with you without the weight of paper files.
c. Develop timelines for each ancestor you will be researching. What are his life events in that area that would have left a record? What are the local, state, or national events that may have an impact on his life and generated a record?
d. Create a working report for each ancestor. Abstract the records you already have and note those records for which you are seeking. Leave your original documents at home, but take the information contained therein with you.
e. Mark your maps with places your ancestors lived, worshipped, or were buried. Marking residences on land ownership maps of the period may reveal patterns of kinship you may have overlooked.

4. Know what is available for research at your destination.
a. Most Chambers of Commerce will send you a visitor or relocation guide or check their on-line site. These are helpful for finding lodging, restaurants, attractions, local festivals, etc. It may also list libraries, and have maps of business districts, showing the courthouse location.
b. Another source of information on a locality is the Internet mapping services. I use Mapquest (http://www.mapquest.com), Google, and Yahoo! Search both city and county web sites for driving directions, local services, libraries and courthouses. Check the indexes at Bigbook (http://www.bigbook.com). I found libraries, cemeteries and churches with addresses and maps.
c. Review state research guides, such as those in Ancestry’s Redbook, Everton’s Handy Book, and the Family History Library. (http://www.familysearch.org/)
d. Then check USGenWeb [or other country] for the county in which your destination is located. Most list local resources with addresses, hours, telephone numbers, etc. What records are on-line? Has the local historical or genealogical society published local records? Do volunteers do free lookups?
e. Check to see if the local library has a web site. Do they have a genealogy or local history collection? Is their catalog on-line? If it is, make a list of the materials you want to check while there. Put each title [with full bibliographic citation] on a separate page and write a note on what you are seeking in that resource. Another option is to prepare a detailed research calendar of what you hope to find. If the library is not on-line, write them for information on their holdings.
f. Check for a regional, specialty, or university library in the area. Does the local genealogical society have its own library? When is it open? Where is it located?
g. Check the hours the courthouse or other record repository is open. Some close for the lunch hour. Some close one day a week and are open on Saturday. Does the county maintain a separate archives collection located outside the courthouse?
h. Find out if the cemeteries in which your ancestors were buried have a caretaker or sexton. Can he provide you with a lot map? Does he have burial records listing lot owners and who is buried where? Bigbook works for cemeteries located in cities, but try the USGS Geographic Names Information Service for rural cemeteries (http://geonames.usgs.gov/gnisform.html).
i. Using a directory of funeral homes and funeral directors, find the ones in business when your ancestors lived in that location. They may have burial records for your ancestor. http://www.yelobk.com/. In one case in Tennessee, the funeral home had the only map of burials in the municipal cemetery.
j. Check for the listing of newspapers in business when your ancestors lived in that location. Make a list of the obituaries, special anniversary celebrations, marriages, and births for that locality that you want to find.

5. Pack your research kit
a. For courthouse and library research you need your laptop computer or pencils and sharpener or mechanical pencil with plenty of lead and erasers; blank charts and forms, a small stapler, a small ruler, a highlighter, return address labels, pre-stamped postcards, notebook paper, rolls of nickels, dimes and quarters. If you don’t have a laptop computer, take family group sheets, pedigree charts, research logs, abstract and extract forms for census, and courthouse records. Take your favorites. Before laptop computer, I packed my supplies in a zippered 3-ring notebook that has pockets for pencils, highlighters, coin rolls, etc. In a small zippered bag, punched for notebooks, I keep my stapler, staples, ruler, etc.

The postcards are for sending thank you notes to the librarian or clerk who helped you. Get their name from their desk or nametag. You already have their office address. A short note mentioning your research topic and a thank you for their help, posted at the local post office, paves the way for the next genealogist and is just plain good manners. I’ve had librarians contact me later with information based on these post cards!
b. For cemetery research pack a tote bag or small box with pencil, blank paper (examination table paper [ask your physician for roll ends] or butcher paper works nicely), masking or painter’s tape, chalk or fat crayons, a workable fixatif (from the art supply store for stabilizing the chalk or cheap hairspray), an old toothbrush, a garden trowel, a big bottle of water, a hat, a camera, a mirror tile or a piece of heavy cardboard or foamcore covered with foil, shiny side out (for casting shadows to bring out lettering). LEAVE THE SHAVING CREAM AT HOME! The Association for Gravestone Studies has information on how to safely do rubbings and take photographs of tombstones without damaging the stone. http://www.gravestonestudies.org/faq.htm Practice rubbing and photographing stones before you go.

6. Do not research until you are exhausted. Eat a good breakfast, break for lunch, and quit before supper/dinner. Save the evenings for reviewing the days’ work and planning your next step or for visiting with the local relatives. A refreshed mind thinks more clearly than an exhausted one.

7. When you get home, review what you found, tie up the loose ends and prepare for the next trip. This step is crucial to future research success!
a. Review and evaluate your findings, clarify notes, and add citations to documents if you have not already done so.
b. Print or digitally store your photographs and label them, if you have not already done so.
c. Integrate your findings into your filing system or database, comparing the new with the old information. Look for inconsistencies, contradictions, clues, etc. and follow up on them.
d. Write a summary of what you now know about that ancestor. Send a copy of your updated family group sheets, pedigree charts and your new research summary to the libraries you visited for their vertical files and to any relatives you may have visited.
e. Write an outline for future research.

References:
Balhuizen, Anne Ross. Searching on Location: Planning a Research Trip. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1992.

Kerstens, Elizabeth Kelley CG , Ancestry, May 25, 2000,“Organizing for a Research Trip” http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/together/1365.asp

Morgan, George, Ancestry, April 30, 1999, “Planning Your Genealogical Vacation” http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/george/885.asp

Neill, Michael John. “Before Your Trip: Doing Your Homework” and “Preparing for Your Library Trip” Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society workshop, 9 October 1999. www.rootdig.com http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/753.asp; http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/753.asp

Smith, Juliana, Ancestry 4/10/2000, “Preparing for Summer”

http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/compass/871.asp

Sperry, Kip. “Planning for a Successful Genealogy Research Trip” Ancestry, February 6, 2001 http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/tips/3337.asp

Mary Clement Douglass, B.A Ed. [Social Studies Education], has over 40 years experience researching, writing and teaching as historian and genealogist. Mary has been a classroom teacher, architectural historian, and was a museum curator for many years. She is a member of Association of Professional Genealogists, National Genealogical Society, graduate American Genealogy: A Basic Course; Institute for Historical and Genealogical Research Course 4: Advanced Methodology and Research in the South. She is a member of several genealogical and lineage societies, including DAR and United Daughters of the Confederacy. Contact her at Historical Matters, 259 N. Kansas, Salina, KS 67401-8515 URL: http://historical-matters.com

Those photographs have started me thinking about my own oral history. Who will tell my story if I  don’t? So as I scan and load the photos to my computer, I’m writing short memories triggered by each image. Some of these I’ll share with my brothers, especially the shared locations such as Robbers Cave State Park in southeastern Oklahoma, a favorite vacation spot. Then I’ll add their memories of the same place to get a different viewpoint on our combined family history.

Now it’s time to catch up on the snail mail, the email, and the laundry. Like the poor, laundry will always be with us.

After those chores, it’s time to consolidate the new information I found on our trip.

Yesterday Errol & I helped pack and deliver 80 sack lunches to the children living in Artisan Ridge Apartments in NW OKC. We had two young helpers to tote the crates up and down the stairs. After those frantic two hours we visited a few minutes with my nephew. Then went to the RV for naps.

Today is Errol’s birthday and we’re eating at little brother’s house. Tomorrow we eat at big brother’s house. We have to feed our selves on Sunday. Chad will be baptising about 6 young people Sunday. We’ll go to hear Chad preach Sunday evening.

Maybe next week, after delivering lunches, I’ll get in a visit to the Oklahoma Historical Society’s collection. Hmmm?

Today was a travel day. It’s much cooler and overcast. It rained hard while we were trying to get through Memphis and continued to rain almost to Little Rock. Portions of I-40 rearranged the contents of our cabinets. It was shake, rattle and roll for miles! We’ve stopped for the night at the former KOA at Morrilton. Tomorrow we’ll park in Edmond, OK to help our nephew Chad with his mission. Lots of lunches to pack!

After our nap/football game, we took a litte road trip to find the Antioch Cemetery near Van Leer. Antioch Cemetery is well maintained and roadside. Gravel Gertie took us directly to it without side trips. Took photograph of my ancestor James D. Hamilton’s tombstone. From the looks of it, the marker was placed long after the interment, probably by one of his descendants. James is buried in a row of Hamiltons, most of whom I could Identify as his children or grandchildren. All of the graves had artificial flowers, probably placed last Memorial Day. Wish I knew who still cared for these graves.

The next two days I’ll be researching the family of James D. Hamilton and his wife Sarah Gilmore Nail in both Williamson and Dickson Counties Tennessee. James is listed on the 1870-1900 censuses living in Williamson County, but he’s buried in adjacent Dickson County. Was he living with one of his children in Dickson County? Dickson County has no extant newspapers for the time of his death or that of his wife. Williamson County does. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find an obituary for one or the other of them.

The Williamson County Public Library genealogy collection is closed on Sunday and Monday. The Dickson County archives is in Charlotte, while the public library is in Dickson. Since we’re parked at an rv park in Dickson, I’ll probably start there.

Our goal for the day was Dickson, TN, just west of Nashville. The Dickson RV Park has a lot of permanent residents. There were only two slots open for us transients. Errol watched a football game while I did laundry. We’re both tired. Tomorrow is Sunday. We’ll find a local church, have lunch, and take afternoon naps.

Monday and Tuesday are research days. Still hunting my Hamilton ancestors. James D. Hamilton and his wife Sarah Gilmore Nail are buried in the Antioch cemetery near Van Leer. My goal is to determine in which county he died-Williamson where he lived from 1870-1900 or in Dickson where he’s buried. The counties are contiguous. This is our last research stop. Our next destination is Oklahoma City to see family and hear my nephew preach.

My research here has been successful. I found death dates for two ancestors, but not where they were buried. There are so many unmarked graves in the cemeteries here. If there’s a marker at all, it’s often just a field stone. My people were poor farmers. The highlight of my research was getting to see the original documents of my ancestor’s divorce case. Matilda pursued the case even after her husband’s death in 1860. She must have won something as on the 1870 census, she has real estate of $3500 and personal estate of $1000 and her occupation was housekeeper. Matilda was a character! Jonathan Clark denied the paternity of the child she bore 8 months after their marriage and she had two more children after that. One was born after Jonathan was dead. It’s unknown if Jonathan was the father of any of the children that bore his surname. Jonathan was no saint himself.

If you don’t want to find skeletons in your closet, don’t get involved in genealogy. And when you do find them, make ‘em dance!

This morning the library did open until 10 am so we drove up the Upper East Valley road about 9 miles to the Hamilton cemetery where a couple of my ancestors were buried. The cemetery is on top of a hill about a quarter mile from the road in a cattle pasture. First time I’ve seen a brindle colored cow. We also saw a brown cow with a cream band around its middle. Errol climbed over the barb wire fence and up the hill to take photographs of the tombstones. The stones are ancient and almost unreadable. The rain held off until he got back in the car.

I added Matilda Mitts Thomas Clark’s death record to my family group sheet! I now have death records for Matilda, her father Jacob and mother Christiana, and her last husband Jonathan Clark, whom she sued for divorce. From trying to read faded court records, that must have been a really interesting marriage! He denied fathering Matilda’s daughter Buena Vista, born about 8 months after their marriage, but admited to fathering the children of a neighbor Matilda Dyers. There were counter claims of verbal and physical abuse. Jonathan claimed that his marriage to Matilda was fraudelent because she was married to Evan Thomas at the time. Evan Thomas supposedly died about 1850. Matilda married Jonathan about 1856. This case went on from Sept 1857, through 1871. Jonathan died in 1860, so Matilda must have sued his estate as well. All that from just the bits and pieces I could read. As one neighbor recalled, “Matilda was a real rip!”

We’re staying an extra day so I can work on the deeds on microfilm. Errol has been extremely patient with my spending long hours at the library. What a treasure he is!